Last year Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian human rights lawyer raised the issue of
"Right to work, Right of Dissenters" because of the obstacles created for her
job in Tehran. The obstacles by Iran's security forces meant she could not work
to support herself and her family. Nasrin Sotoudeh received worldwide support
(1).For three years, after my contract was terminated by VOA, I have been trying to
get a job in Washington DC and every time in the last stage I face a similar
situation as dissenters in Iran because of being a journalist in the US
presenting all sides of the news story(2).

Of course here in the US, these
employers are very politically correct when discriminating against me. It is
interesting to note that one of them first gave me a test and I passed
successfully and one of their staff in charge of the test congratulated me for
my top scores, but when a position opened later and I applied for it, and did
the interview and all was fine, suddenly I was rejected at the last stage. A
friend who knew the hiring manager called him and the response was that I had
failed the test. The hiring manager did not know that a short while earlier one
of their own staff had congratulated me for passing the test with high scores. Why
do they lie? Becausethe secret decision makers do not want to reveal themselves. Upon the suggestion of
my friend, I actually sent an email to the hiring manager and copied the friend
to whom he had said I failed the test and stated that I had passed the test with
high scores and was congratulated a while back by their own staff in charge of
the test. This hiring manager never responded and I can understand, because he
is scared for his own job for not knowing better not to invite me for an
interview in the first place. Others too are politically correct and make up
excuses to disqualify in a similar fashion. Why all this for me, because I am
not a journalist for whom always the villains and good guys are decided before even
reading the news. I do not want to speak of details of these discriminations and
to name anybody and would like to focus on issues. The same thing I noted about VOA that I really followed the
VOA Charter of fair news practices when I worked there, contrary to the
so-called journalism of those who did not want to see me work there (3).

Some Iranians who were associated with Shah's Savak and still are active in the
United States work for US and Israeli intelligence agencies and when they
receive background check investigation requests, they discriminate against those who have been
critical of the former regime in Iran. Every time I raise this topic, some of
them show up with fake names in discussion forums like Balatarin and try to
discredit my reports about this ugly phenomena among Iranians in the heart of
democracy in the United States. If the methods of Shah's regime and Islamic
Republic of Iran were good, all Iranians would not wish to live in the United
States, so let's not turn our experience living in a democracy in the US into
another page of hell under discrimination and please do not try to show these
issues as if they do not exist, the same way Iranian government responds to
those asking for the right of dissenters to work. A recent program in
BBC TV showed that this is not the figment of my imagination and these people
are active in the United States (4). Personally I am against discrimination even
if it is against the former Savak agents and their families and have said it
clearly (5).If there is an issue, one should be taken to
court, otherwise, people's rights including the right to work should not be
curtailed.

When I talk to some friends who condemn discriminations against journalists and
human rights activists in Iran and discuss with them about my situation right
here in a democracy in the US for the last three years where I have been a victim
of similar violations of my human right to work, they speak
vaguely and although they know I am presenting facts, they look the other way. Sometimes I think to myself maybe it would be better to be an activist
inside Iran and go to jail, at least your family would not think you are failing
to support them and clearly will see the security agencies' decision makers as
responsible for the result of these practices for one's life and family. I am
glad to see TV series like Shahrzad being produced by those who have not just
become human rights advocates during the Islamic Republic and know Iran's
history better. Such TV series show to Iran's young generation not to think we
had heaven in Iran before the inception of Islamic Republic and they can learn
of what we suffered as a nation after the CIA 1953 coup in Iran. It was the same
way as now, that if you were a Physics professor and they did not like your
political views, you would not be able to teach at the university. But to suffer
similar situation by Iranians who opposed the coup, today and even in a
democracy in the US after the CIA coup against Mossadegh has been admitted, maybe unbelievable but is true. I suggest to the readers to watch Shahrzad mini
series starring Ali Nasirian and judge for themselves (6).